Enlightened Courage - Becoming a Bodhisattva Warrior Thru the Method of Exchanging Self and Others (12 June 2010, part 2)

0:00 You kind of, sort of, in the next rebirth, just having a really good time. So this is really typical, I think, of a lot of the motivation for people who were raised in Buddhist cultures in Asia. Then the second level of motivation we said was the wish for liberation from saṃsāra, understanding that anywhere that you're reborn in cyclic existence is going to be characterized by suffering, so you want out, off the wheel, right? Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:31 Out of that whole cycle of rebirth. So the goal there is nirvāṇa. We didn't talk about this word nirvāṇa, but it means liberation, nirvāṇa, synonymous. Freedom from karma and delusions. And again, it's mental. It's not some place you go to like heaven, right? Nirvāṇa isn't some blissful paradise place. Report an error in the passage at 0:31 Highlight the passage at 0:31

0:54 Where do you go when you're at nirvāṇa? Well, if you're still, you know, in your body, we call it nirvāṇa with remainder, meaning that you still have the five aggregates or the body and mind that you were born into this life. you attain liberation from some Saṃsāra, which is a mental state, and then you still have your body until the point of death, at which point you attain what's called nirvāṇa without remainder, meaning no more aggregates born of karma and delusion. Report an error in the passage at 0:54 Highlight the passage at 0:54

1:28 So those are the two kinds of nirvāṇa. Then beyond that we say the goal of enlightenment, full enlightenment, Buddhahood. For the sake of all sentient beings. And we talked about the special qualities of an enlightened being that enable them to benefit others perfectly. Especially the mental qualities, right? This thing we call omniscient mind with that mind that sees the karma of beings, sees their past lives, sees their delusions, can guide them perfectly. Report an error in the passage at 1:28 Highlight the passage at 1:28

1:59 And we talked about that too. We said the main way that a Buddha helps us is by teaching us. They can't fix it for us. Kind of a drag. Wouldn't that be great? None of us would be here suffering if a Buddha could fix it. But it's up to us to engage in the practice, but we can be taught that perfectly by an omniscient being. Report an error in the passage at 1:59 Highlight the passage at 1:59

2:21 And you'll see this. I always mention times that for one of the qualities of the Buddha, they talk about the 60 melodious qualities of the Buddha's speech, one of which is explained as the Buddha speaks every language that everybody speaks. And one way of thinking of that is everybody hears exactly what they need to hear from a teaching by an enlightened being. And you'll see this in Teaching by His Holiness, or I've seen it a lot with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, right? Report an error in the passage at 2:21 Highlight the passage at 2:21

2:50 There's 250 people in the room at the Kopan November course. You walk out of the room after Lama Zopa's taught, everybody, there's 250 different versions of what he said. And everybody's heard exactly what they needed to hear, you know, and you'll be talking to somebody next to you and you'll be like, oh my God, it was so amazing when he said blah, yada, yada. Report an error in the passage at 2:50 Highlight the passage at 2:50

3:13 And the person's like, I never heard that. I heard him say yada, yada, yada. You know, and it's something you didn't hear at all and it's kind of weird. And then the MP3 recorder has different karma often. And this has happened to me. I've heard an entire teaching that Lama Zopa's given that didn't get recorded. Report an error in the passage at 3:13 Highlight the passage at 3:13

3:33 Like what's up with that, right? So maybe that's one of those qualities that everybody has, you know, karma to hear something completely different. And this is one of the qualities of an enlightened being. We also in Katya had the... Question, what about the body like of a Buddha, the form bodies? And we talked about these form bodies and we said there's an emanation, there's emanation bodies and then there's this kind of purified like an astral body called the Sambhogakaya is the Sanskrit word, complete enjoyment body, the way that a Buddha appears to very, very highly realized beings and then for beings that aren't so realized, the Buddha can appear in any form. Report an error in the passage at 3:33 Highlight the passage at 3:33

4:15 And we talked about that too. Master Shantideva in the Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life says, a dog, a bridge, even inanimate objects. And there's this interesting teaching about the different kinds of emanation body. That's very cool. They talk about inanimate objects being one kind. They talk about what we usually think of when we talk about tulkus in the Tibetan tradition. Then we got into this whole discussion of where are the women tulkus, right? Report an error in the passage at 4:15 Highlight the passage at 4:15

4:44 So tulku is just the Tibetan word for nirmanakaya. Really interesting. So when we talk about tulkus in Tibetan, that's just the Tibetan word for emanation body. So we talk about lamas of high realization, their next rebirth that gets recognized and... They can carry on with the teaching. The word for that is actually the word for emanation body. So that's one kind of emanation. And then there's these spontaneous emanations that can just appear any time a being needs it. Report an error in the passage at 4:44 Highlight the passage at 4:44

5:16 So I always talk about being pronoid. I actually bought a book. I saw a book yesterday in a bookstore. Called Pronoia. I'll bring it in during the break. I didn't know there was a whole book written about it. I was so excited. I bought it immediately because this is one of my favorite concepts. We don't know who an emanation body is. And like I said yesterday, ain't always that they're going to be sitting up in the front of the room on a throne with a robe on like His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who quite clearly in my mind is one. Report an error in the passage at 5:16 Highlight the passage at 5:16

5:49 But... You know, the annoying co-worker, the person that sits next to you on the bus and tells you about Se Chin Ling and gives you a flyer for the next class. It could be anybody. So pro-noia is a concept that you're, instead of being paranoid, it's the opposite. You're thinking that everybody's conspiring to make you happy. I would take it one step farther. Imagine that everybody's conspiring to get you enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 5:49 Highlight the passage at 5:49

6:17 Life becomes a lot more fun. Take everything that anybody ever says to you as a message from an enlightened being and watch your life change, especially the annoying ones. Why not? I don't know. You probably don't know either. Until you're clairvoyant, you don't really know. So I think it's kind of cool going through life with this sort of attitude. Report an error in the passage at 6:17 Highlight the passage at 6:17

6:37 This is actually a practice that we have formally. In the Vajrayana, and actually even if you have bodhisattva vows, this is one of your bodhisattva vows, looking at everyone as a teacher. Very cool practice. Your mental affliction level will plummet if you do this practice well, I promise you. I wish I were better at it. Report an error in the passage at 6:37 Highlight the passage at 6:37

7:00 I remind myself from time to time. Usually when I'm teaching, which is why it's so good to be a teacher. Oh right, I should do that thing of looking at everybody as a teacher. Okay, because we don't know. And like I said, it's a Buddhist job description to emanate to get us enlightened. What are the chances that those of you sitting in this room right now on a beautiful sunny Saturday morning, with the karmic imprints that you have to even want to be listening to a weekend about bodhicitta, what are the chances that you haven't met one yet? Report an error in the passage at 7:00 Highlight the passage at 7:00

7:34 I would say... Zero. I would say the probability is nil, personally. Right? It's their job. It just depends on your karma and your virtue. So if you're interested enough in bodhicitta to be here at 10 o 'clock on Saturday morning, I would say practice spiritual revisionism. Look back in your life and look at all those people and be suspicious at how many Buddhas may have showed up for you. Report an error in the passage at 7:34 Highlight the passage at 7:34

8:00 that you didn't maybe recognize. Maybe some you did recognize. But it's a nice practice to go through and think about that. Report an error in the passage at 8:00 Highlight the passage at 8:00

8:10 that's buddhahood buddhahood so The wish to attain enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings is the definition of bodhicitta. So we talk about the three principles of the path. These are three realizations that we work on developing. When we're at that highest level of scope, Wishing for full enlightenment, we work on developing renunciation bodhicitta and a correct view of the ultimate nature of reality. Report an error in the passage at 8:10 Highlight the passage at 8:10

8:39 So we mention renunciation. It isn't giving up all the good stuff. It's giving up saṃsāra. The wish to definitely get free of saṃsāra. The wish to definitely emerge. And that's what the word in Tibetan means. Definite emergence. And then we have bodhicitta. The wish to attain enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. And then we didn't talk about this because we got into such a discussion about bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 8:39 Highlight the passage at 8:39

9:07 Correct view is the third component of the path, seeing the ultimate nature of reality. We'll talk about it just a little bit. It's a long story. We've gotten into it in great excruciating detail before, haven't we? The Heart Sūtra, for example, which was great. That's not the topic of this weekend, but basically Buddhism says the way reality exists and the way that it appears to us, there's a divergence there. Report an error in the passage at 9:07 Highlight the passage at 9:07

9:34 And all our problems are caused by not seeing reality the way that it really exists. We have a mistaken appearance that we believe is the way that it exists, which just happens to be the root ignorance that drives saṃsāra. So this is key. For both liberation and enlightenment, correct view is necessary. Whether you're going towards nirvāṇa or whether you're going towards Buddhahood, this is absolutely non-negotiable. Report an error in the passage at 9:34 Highlight the passage at 9:34

10:02 You need to have that correct view. At a certain point, you develop what's called the direct perception of the ultimate nature of reality, otherwise known as emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 10:02 Highlight the passage at 10:02

10:15 So that's absolutely necessary on the way towards liberation and on the way towards enlightenment. So that's common to both paths. Bodhicitta is unique to the path to enlightenment. A being who's going for liberation has renunciation and correct view, but only a being that's headed towards full enlightenment has bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 10:15 Highlight the passage at 10:15

10:40 And again, according to the traditional And then Ben mentioned, and nowadays there are many people who study in many different traditions, so it's a little bit mixed. But according to the traditional approach, there are these two streams, heading towards liberation, heading towards enlightenment. Bodhicitta is posited as absolutely necessary if you're heading towards Buddhahood. Report an error in the passage at 10:40 Highlight the passage at 10:40

11:09 And in fact, as I said yesterday, it's the only... It's a cause for Buddhahood and it's the only reason that Buddhahood is necessary. You only become a Buddha because you want to develop these qualities to benefit others. Otherwise, no point in developing omniscient mind. Doesn't matter. Right? It's not going to free you from suffering any more than liberation is to have an omniscient mind. No point in that. The only reason for that isn't to know, I mean personally I would like to know everything. Report an error in the passage at 11:09 Highlight the passage at 11:09

11:41 I have one of these, you know, I have such a need to know and I would really like to know how quantum physics really works and is there really an ultimate particle and all that stuff. That's not the point of omniscience. The point of omniscience is just about being able to benefit beings. Okay? It's the only reason to become a Buddha. So we say that the main cause is wishing to benefit beings and then the means to that is by becoming a Buddha, right? Report an error in the passage at 11:41 Highlight the passage at 11:41

12:06 So the main goal is not just Buddhahood because it's so cool. The main goal is benefiting others. And then you get, okay, the ultimate way to benefit others is by becoming a Buddha. We can do limited benefit and we must, right? We can, you know... Work in the soup kitchen, open the homeless shelter, be a doctor, be a healer, all of those ways to help beings. And we must do that in the short term. Report an error in the passage at 12:06 Highlight the passage at 12:06

12:34 But in the long term, getting that the only way that beings are really going to be free of suffering is by being free themselves of saṃsāra. And that gets back to Katya's question. She had a question yesterday. Why don't the Buddhists just emanate to make us happy? And this is part of the answer to that. Report an error in the passage at 12:34 Highlight the passage at 12:34

12:53 Temporal happiness. It's not such a big deal. The Buddhists manifest to get us enlightened or at least liberated. They don't just show up as like the nice person trying to make us happy in the moment because that's of limited usefulness. So they might show up as a very wrathful teacher who straightens you out. Maybe it's kind of daunting in the moment and not so pleasant, but in the long term, That will really benefit you ultimately. So that's also why Buddhists don't just manifest as the jolly, happy person to cheer you up. That's not always best ultimately. Report an error in the passage at 12:53 Highlight the passage at 12:53

13:35 So any questions about what we've done so far with the mic, which is somewhere hidden? Report an error in the passage at 13:35 Highlight the passage at 13:35

13:53 Well, you already know. I think the third. You already know. I think the third. There are no private solutions. This is absolutely right. I have this question, again, about rebirth, which is, isn't rebirth, in a sense, the next person recognizes you, the story you told, essentially countering the idea of impermanence? Report an error in the passage at 13:53 Highlight the passage at 13:53

14:19 If you really believe in impermanence, which I think is really important, how could that mind, that consciousness, go on and on and on? So how do I think about that contradiction? Yeah, yeah. Good question. And it's basically why I don't like the translation permanent and impermanent for this concept that really means changing and unchanging, right? Report an error in the passage at 14:19 Highlight the passage at 14:19

14:48 Because for us, permanent has the connotation of lasting forever and it has the connotation of unchanging. In Buddhism, the word that's often translated permanent only has the connotation of unchanging. So it's not changing moment by moment. Okay, so our mind stream, right, that's been, has existed since beginningless time, has no end. Report an error in the passage at 14:48 Highlight the passage at 14:48

15:15 It's permanent in the sense that it will last forever, however it's changing moment by moment. So that mind stream is impermanent in the sense of changing moment by moment by moment, however there will be no end. Even at Buddhahood it will still last forever. So it's much better to think of... You know, the Buddhist concept as changing and unchanging. So something like our mind stream is changing moment by moment by moment. Within our lifetime, constantly changing. Report an error in the passage at 15:15 Highlight the passage at 15:15

15:50 At the moment of death, still constantly changing. United with a new body. And during that lifetime, changing moment by moment. It'll last forever. And that's no problem in Buddhism. The problem would be if you said that there's some permanent... Essence that's really me that's not changing moment by moment. That's a view of self that the Buddha refused. However, the view of a changing stream of consciousness going on forever is no problem in Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 15:50 Highlight the passage at 15:50

16:22 I still have a problem because impermanence, the idea, like a lot of suffering comes from impermanence, attachment. Attachment would be okay if it wasn't for impermanence in a sense. That it can change. The object of our attachment changes because everything that's a produced thing does. And that causes a lot of suffering for us, doesn't it? Because we want things to last forever. We want them not to change. And so that changing moment by moment, which is a function of all produced things, is a huge cause of suffering for us. Report an error in the passage at 16:22 Highlight the passage at 16:22

16:57 You're right. I have no problem with impermanence, but... You know, we're not, the planet's not going to exist forever. The sun is not. You know, so I still have, I still have, like, I don't quite understand how in this instance of the consciousness moving, but still the same enough that somebody recognizes the person. Report an error in the passage at 16:57 Highlight the passage at 16:57

17:22 Oh, are you talking about reincarnate Lama? Yeah, you told that story. Oh, they do that on purpose. They do that on purpose, and it's only in the Tibetan system, just because it's not recognized as that being. The mind stream will go on to another rebirth. They say that these highly realized beings, they talk about them starting a line of tokus, meaning that if it will benefit beings, they will purposely choose a rebirth in the kind of circumstances that they will be recognized. Report an error in the passage at 17:22 Highlight the passage at 17:22

17:52 For most beings, it doesn't happen like that at all. That's just a very deliberate thing for a very small number of very, very highly realized beings. It's not like it's identifiable. For most beings at all, and we could be reborn in a completely different world system and a completely different realm we have been since beginningless time. Report an error in the passage at 17:52 Highlight the passage at 17:52

18:12 It's only for certain beings deliberately choosing to be identifiable in the next life because of the benefit to others. And by the way, this only exists in the Tibetan system. Other Buddhist countries don't recognize reincarnate teachers at all. So it's only very, very limited. It's cultural. Report an error in the passage at 18:12 Highlight the passage at 18:12

18:34 Usefulness to doing that. Gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. Good. Good. All right. Any other questions about anything we've talked about so far? Report an error in the passage at 18:34 Highlight the passage at 18:34

18:44 Okay. So, bodhicitta. Bodhicitta, this wish to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. And we talked a little bit last night about it seems almost incomprehensible, right, to us to actually have this fervent wish. And we talked about how Fervent and intense it is. It's not just normal, wimpy kindness. It's this intense, I wish to attain full enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. Report an error in the passage at 18:44 Highlight the passage at 18:44

19:14 So, it's developable. And that's what we're going to talk about for the rest of the weekend. What are the techniques of developing bodhicitta? Because it seems out of our range. It seems like only the territory of some great saint. That wishes for enlightenment for the sake of all beings. So we might hear this word bodhicitta and feel daunted from the outset. Oh well that's for somebody who's some great unselfish amazing being who's willing to go to any realm for the benefit of other beings. Report an error in the passage at 19:14 Highlight the passage at 19:14

19:48 Boy that's not me so forget about it. I'll just go for liberation. But like I said if you have some admiration for this intention even though it seems inconceivable. Buddhism talks about methods for developing it, and that's what we're going to be talking about. So we've got two lineages of methods for developing bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 19:48 Highlight the passage at 19:48

20:15 And so we've got features of instruction, and I'm just going to stand up for a second so I can flip the chart. We've got what's called the seven-point cause-and-effect method. And this one we're not going to be going into in a lot of detail this weekend at all. You can find this in the books on the... Report an error in the passage at 20:15 Highlight the passage at 20:15

20:35 Graduated stages of the path, the lamrim, a seven-point cause and effect. Oh, thanks, Carla. Rob had a family emergency and my flipper had to go. Thanks. So two lineages of instruction, the seven-point cause and effect. We're not going to be talking about this one in detail, but I thought to just mention it. Report an error in the passage at 20:35 Highlight the passage at 20:35

20:57 And it's the one that you may be familiar if you studied. It starts with recognizing that all beings have been your mother. In some past life. And that's the hard part, especially for us. This whole rebirth thing is a little bit hard for us to swallow. So thinking, all beings have been my mother in some past life. Every being. Every being that exists. Report an error in the passage at 20:57 Highlight the passage at 20:57

21:25 You know, because we've had infinite past lives. And it even says in the lamrim, this is one of the hardest realizations to actually get in the lamrim. So His Holiness the Dalai Lama, when he teaches us, he goes, for you guys, that's really hard. So emphasize the second technique, it's easier. I think it's still worth working with this first technique, right? I think it's still definitely worth examining that. So thinking that all beings have been your mother. Report an error in the passage at 21:25 Highlight the passage at 21:25

21:55 Thinking of their kindness when they were your mother and in that part of the meditation you meditate on the fact that without usually for us, not always the case, but usually our primary caregiver when we're an infant is our mother. Without our mother we wouldn't have survived two days, maybe not even one. Without being fed, having your diapers changed, without the care physically of the mother. Report an error in the passage at 21:55 Highlight the passage at 21:55

22:22 No way would you have survived. And then you meditate like that. A lot of us have a problem with our mother because it all changed when we were 15. And then it all just kind of went pear-shaped quickly. And according to Buddhism, don't worry about all of that stuff. It's really about the fact that you wouldn't have existed without that primary caregiver, which for most of us was... Report an error in the passage at 22:22 Highlight the passage at 22:22

22:47 The mother, right? So thinking of the kindness, wishing to repay the kindness of the mother is the next step. So you think, you know, they say in this, in Buddhist scripture, if you could, if you had to carry your parents around on your back for the rest of your life, you couldn't even repay their kindness to you. Report an error in the passage at 22:47 Highlight the passage at 22:47

23:06 And this is how graphic it is. You know, can you imagine? Mine were really big. That would have been hard, right? For the rest of your life. Carry them around. So then you think of wishing to repay the kindness of the mother and then that generates a sense of love. Then the next step is a sense of compassion. Love and compassion are defined in Buddhism. Love as the wish for beings to be happy. Compassion is the wish for beings to be free from suffering. Report an error in the passage at 23:06 Highlight the passage at 23:06

23:35 Say the love is a natural kind of result of the first three points of the meditation. And then we meditate on compassion. And then we start to take responsibility. We generate this sense of what's called often universal responsibility for the welfare. Of all those beings that have been our mother. I want to free them from their suffering forever. Then we take responsibility. I'll do it. Report an error in the passage at 23:35 Highlight the passage at 23:35

24:02 How do you do it? Only by becoming a Buddha. So in this way, the seven steps lead up to, it's actually six causes in one result. The six steps lead up to the result, which is the seventh step, which is bodhicitta. Okay, so that's that lineage of instruction. Beautiful, beautiful. Instruction, really nice meditation. So that's all I'm going to say about that lineage because we're going to be focusing on the next one which is the lineage of equalizing and exchanging self and others. Report an error in the passage at 24:02 Highlight the passage at 24:02

24:37 My lovely assistant Carla will now flip. Thank you, that makes it helpful. Great. So equalizing and exchanging self and others has these five points and one prerequisite and so we're going to be talking about these points in a lot of detail. The prerequisite is a meditation called equanimity, equanimity and in this meditation we try to even out our strong sense of partiality that we have. Report an error in the passage at 24:37 Highlight the passage at 24:37

25:12 Wishing for happiness for our friends, not caring much about the people that we don't know very well, having a sense of indifference towards strangers, and then aversion towards our quote-unquote enemies or the people that we dislike. Enemy might sound like a really strong word. So think of it as the people that are annoying, the people that you dislike. Report an error in the passage at 25:12 Highlight the passage at 25:12

25:36 And in this meditation we try and even out our feelings. Buddhism doesn't say everybody has to be your best friend. Nor does Buddhism say you can't have any friends at all. You have to be equally indifferent to everyone. Obviously there's some people we like, there's some people we want to hang out with, some people we don't get along with so well. Report an error in the passage at 25:36 Highlight the passage at 25:36

26:00 But what Buddhism says is to even out that sense of partiality so that we equally try to work for the happiness even of the people that we dislike. And that's hard. This takes a long time, right? At least in terms of wishing that they would have happiness, wishing that they would be free of suffering, equal to your best friend. Report an error in the passage at 26:00 Highlight the passage at 26:00

26:24 And the Tibetan Lamas, when they explain this, they say, you can work on this prerequisite meditation of equanimity for a really long time. And it's good to. How are you going to become a Buddha to free all beings from suffering forever if you still kind of have that sense of partiality, you still ignore the people you don't know? Report an error in the passage at 26:24 Highlight the passage at 26:24

26:46 The annoying co-worker, you sort of get off a little bit when something bad happens to them. It's that little subtle thing that we have, that we all have. It's part of being impartial. You hear that somebody you really dislike has some misfortune, and there's a part of you that's a little bit happy about it. Report an error in the passage at 26:46 Highlight the passage at 26:46

27:05 I always say, as an example of that, I think that all the supermarket tabloids are based on that feeling that you have. They're all full of bad news, especially about rich, famous people, because we're a little bit jealous. It plays on our envy. And we're kind of happy. You know, I saw this one cover that was just completely horrifying. You know, you can't help it if you go somewhere like Safeway, which I do rarely, but it's mostly just for the cat food. Report an error in the passage at 27:05 Highlight the passage at 27:05

27:33 And then you're standing there and there they are and you kind of can't help but glance. And one cover had a whole spread of like plastic surgery gone wrong. And it was awful. And I was just like, who? Would pay money to revel in the fact that these beautiful, it was all women. Did you buy that issue? Oh my God, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Report an error in the passage at 27:33 Highlight the passage at 27:33

27:57 Right, it was all like these young beautiful babes that like were trying to get a facelift and like something had gone horribly wrong. And it was just like, ah, you know, it was really like awful. Report an error in the passage at 27:57 Highlight the passage at 27:57

28:10 She's so brave. She admitted to buying it. Did you buy it too, that issue? You always read that. Report an error in the passage at 28:10 Highlight the passage at 28:10

28:31 Yeah, yeah, that's part of it, isn't it? It's not just... There's no real achievement. Yeah, yeah. There's no real, there's no private solutions, there's no real achievement that's going to protect you. Yeah, yeah, so that's part of it too. It's like, oh, it happens even to Brad Pitt, you know, and... Report an error in the passage at 28:31 Highlight the passage at 28:31

28:52 It's not so bad. Even Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are in Saṃsāra, shopping for a new child, going from country to country. Report an error in the passage at 28:52 Highlight the passage at 28:52

29:03 So yeah, that's part of it. But you know what I'm talking about, just that very subtle. And actually when we talk about the ten non-virtues, we have a list of Buddhist ethics, we talk about the ten non-virtues. One is ill will or maliciousness and that's a very very subtle level of that ill will is just that little happiness you get over the misfortune of people that you dislike. Report an error in the passage at 29:03 Highlight the passage at 29:03

29:28 So with the equanimity meditation we're trying to even that out and that can take a while so even doing the prerequisite can last a long time. So I'm going to go through the other points just quickly now and then we're going to go into a lot of detail about all of them. The first point, equalizing self and others. Report an error in the passage at 29:28 Highlight the passage at 29:28

29:49 The second point, the disadvantages of self-cherishing. We'll talk about that in detail. The advantages of cherishing others. The actual exchange and then giving and taking, which is the main meditation for this technique. Tonglen meditation, which I know a lot of you have done and we'll do that. We'll probably get to that this afternoon. So this is the main technique, these five points. So we'll go into a lot of detail about this. Report an error in the passage at 29:49 Highlight the passage at 29:49

30:17 So any questions about these five points? Yeah, let's get the mic. And remind me your name. Tricia, that's right. I saw you at Judith's. Right, right. Is the giving and taking just a Tibetan method or is this something the Tonglen used in other Buddhist practices? Yeah, it originated in the Tibetan tradition. Well, no, because this whole lineage of equalizing and exchanging self and others was introduced into Tibet actually at the time of Lama Atisha. Report an error in the passage at 30:17 Highlight the passage at 30:17

30:58 Both lineages, the seven point cause and effect lineage and the equalizing and exchanging self and others, Lama Atisha, who sort of was a big revitalizer of Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet around the turn of the first millennium, was it? Around 1000 AD, was invited from India to Tibet to... He was a holder of both lineages, so they kind of combined in Tibet. But that's a really good question. Because they existed in India prior, it could be that they traveled from, for example, India to other northern school countries like China, Japan. Report an error in the passage at 30:58 Highlight the passage at 30:58

31:39 To my knowledge, Presently, the main teachings on Tonglen are found in the Tibetan tradition, but that's a really good question that I'm not 100% sure, because it all originated in India, right, with Lord Buddha, so it could be that there are lineages of Tonglen that do exist. In Chinese, Mahāyāna, Japanese, like that. I'm not aware of any. I've never heard of that. As far as I know, it's mostly taught in Tibetan traditions. Report an error in the passage at 31:39 Highlight the passage at 31:39

32:07 However, and we were discussing a little bit last night, now there's such a sort of mixing and cross-fertilization that teachers from other lineages have been exposed to these ideas from the Tibetan traditions. So currently, it's quite... Possible that, for example, a Theravan teacher might introduce Tonglen as a meditation technique or teachers from other lineages now because there is such an exposure. Report an error in the passage at 32:07 Highlight the passage at 32:07

32:34 Yeah, yeah. Have you heard of it in another tradition specifically? No, I haven't and that's why I was asking. I was trained in the Chinese Qin. Yeah. And... I never had heard of it. I only heard of it through Tibetan practices. And I think that's the main, you know, there's, for example, in the Theravāda tradition, there's mettā meditation, loving kindness meditation. Report an error in the passage at 32:34 Highlight the passage at 32:34

33:02 So there are techniques for developing loving kindness, compassion and so forth in the other traditions. But Tonglen specifically, I believe, is from the Tibetan tradition. Yeah, good. All right. So let's flip to... Report an error in the passage at 33:02 Highlight the passage at 33:02

33:23 So, now we're going to get to our main text. Report an error in the passage at 33:23 Highlight the passage at 33:23

33:35 Okay, wait, I think there's two pages. Let me look at that again. Are there two different? Report an error in the passage at 33:35 Highlight the passage at 33:35

33:46 There should be actually three pages. Okay, anyway, we can start with this. I think there's another. We'll start with this, and then during the break I'll check with Charles, because this isn't the whole text. Now we're going to start talking about the texts that teach this method of equalizing and exchanging self and others. We're going to look at one text of a genre that's known in the Tibetan tradition, very, very common and widely taught genre of text in the Tibetan tradition called lojong. Report an error in the passage at 33:46 Highlight the passage at 33:46

34:21 This text that you have in your hands is seven-point mind training. By Pabanka Rinpoche, it's also, there's an original teacher of this called Gashi Chakawa, and we'll talk about his story in a minute, is mind training is a translation for lojong. So this is one of these lojong or mind training texts. Do we not have enough? Did you? Report an error in the passage at 34:21 Highlight the passage at 34:21

34:48 You got one. Yeah. We'll get another copy. I'll get Charles to print. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 34:48 Highlight the passage at 34:48

35:01 So lojong. Or mind training, so this text that we're going to be looking at. But let's look at lojong as a concept first, because this is a whole genre of different texts. Some of you may have heard of the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation, which is another lojong text. There's actually a new book out, relatively new in the last couple of years, that's a compendium of lojong texts that's about this fat. Report an error in the passage at 35:01 Highlight the passage at 35:01

35:27 By Thubten Djempa, His Holiness the Dalai Lama's main translator. And it's beautiful. It's a whole collection of different lojong or thought transformation texts. It's awesome to have them all in English. For a long time, this seven-point mind training in the eight verses were the two main lojong texts that were translated. Report an error in the passage at 35:27 Highlight the passage at 35:27

35:47 Now Thubten Djempa, who's an amazing translator, has translated a whole huge collection of lojong texts. Yes. Report an error in the passage at 35:47 Highlight the passage at 35:47

35:58 The name of that book? Just Mind Training? Yeah, okay. Thupten Jimpa. T-H-U-B-T-E-N-J-I-N-P-A. And it's published by Wisdom Publications. Yeah, maybe it is. Just Collection of Mind Training Texts or something like that. Yeah, it's got Mind Training in the title. Yeah, I think it's just called Collection of Mind Training. I'll see if we've got a copy and show you during the break. Report an error in the passage at 35:58 Highlight the passage at 35:58

36:27 Yeah, I'll get one from her during the break. So Lojong isn't just one text, it's a whole, you know, there's a collection of different, of these Lojong texts. Lo, Lojong, Tibetan word, the lo means, can refer to mind, thoughts, attitudes, right? Any of these meanings for lo, mind, thoughts, attitudes. Report an error in the passage at 36:27 Highlight the passage at 36:27

36:55 jang, the second part of the word, Shantideva refers to training, meaning training in something to get good at it, just like you would at a sport, right? Like you train yourself in something, training to get better at something, to learn a skill. So this is one of the connotations of this word. Another connotation of the word zhong, habituation. So getting used to something, doing it over and over and over again until it becomes habitual. Report an error in the passage at 36:55 Highlight the passage at 36:55

37:24 This is another connotation of this word jang, okay, habituation. Another is cultivation, which is kind of a lot like training, but cultivation, slightly different connotation. So cultivating, developing something. And then the last connotation is purification, okay, purification. So purifying, you know, of negativities, cultivating. Report an error in the passage at 37:24 Highlight the passage at 37:24

37:54 Positive qualities. So these are all connotations of this word lojong. So you often see it translated as... Report an error in the passage at 37:54 Highlight the passage at 37:54